


Borderlands Drabblings

by Dapnee Williams (DegenerateArtistPresent)



Category: Borderlands
Genre: Mostly Fluff, Multi, Tales from the Borderlands, drabblings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-30
Updated: 2015-08-23
Packaged: 2018-03-20 17:47:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3659472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DegenerateArtistPresent/pseuds/Dapnee%20Williams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Assortment of drabbles of Borderlands stuff. Will contain short stories from BL, BL2, BL:TPS, and TftBl. Warnings, pairings, point in time described in beginning notes of each chapter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Accountants and Con-Artists

**Author's Note:**

> Fiona/Vaughn, sometime after Atlas Mugged.
> 
> Been in the mood to write of my Tales otp's, especially Faughn since it seems to not have any good stories.

Fiona wiped oil off her cheek using her sleeve, the dark liquid smeared over blood and dust now. Working on the Caravan kept her mind off things she wasn't too keen on thinking of. The past week had her, Sasha, and they're two unlikely friends, Rhys and Vaughn, running from Hyperion thugs, and Pandorian mob thugs. It was only ever quiet when the group thought they had made up enough time to sit back and rest.

Resting was something Fiona had enjoyed, before the whole Vault Key scheme. Now she always found herself on edge, the passing of time meant their enemies were getting closer and closer. The Gortys Project was in the eye of three different factions, all ready to pay top dollar to take it away from them. Vault Hunters, Vallory's people, even Hyperion. And let alone Athena, who was only after Fiona. It was only anxiety that came with the whole Gortys thing, especially with Felix gone. She went back to emptying the oil out of the machine.

"What's the damage boss?" A voice rang. Fiona cursed as she smacked her head on the underside of the caravan, holding her head as she rolled out from under the vehicle. Vaughn slouched looking down at her, cringing, "Oh, I didn't mean to scare you, I was jus-"

"I'm fine," Fiona shook her head, her wound already showing discoloration and swelling, "Just a bit antsy." She covered it with her hand, feeling it was still swelling. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be hanging out with Rhys or something."

Vaughn kicked a rock toward the fire they had made earlier to cook some beans over to share, it was dieing out slowly. "He's fine!" Vaughn threw his hands up, "Totally not wandering around a mile away talking to our dead CEO or anything."

"Jack's still bugging him?"

"Yeah," Vaughn turned to look off toward the setting sun, "Ever since we found that Gortys core, he's just been really distant. Heck, I'm surprised he even told us, let alone me! I don't know if I would even consider telling another living soul that I might be 'possessed by a hologram of my past boss'." Vaughn began walking around with his jaw half open, his movements stiff and his arms in front of him.

"Yeah, if it weren't for the whole thing back there in Old Haven, I wouldn't of believed him." Fiona smiled at the show.

"I'm just... I'm just worried about him Fiona." Vaughn stopped and hung his head. "Here I am making fun of the guy that I'm worried sick about. He's out there with that, that _monster_ in his head and we can't do anything about it."

Fiona walked over to him and placed her left hand on his shoulder, the ex-Hyperion looked up at her, tears starting to fill his eyes. "Vaughn, I promise you, we'll get it taken care of. Even if we have to go into that dweebs head and fight him ourselves, we'll do it. Just like at the race."

Vaughn sniffled, "Of course you'd say that, you can actually fight bandits, while I just run off."

"Hey, you handed me that axe when I needed it, remember."

"There's quite a difference between handing an axe to someone than using that axe to kill." Vaughn looked away.

Fiona bit her lip, "Dude, to be honest, the ability in killing people isn't really a thing to get worked up over."

"Oh, yeah. Like the fact I had so many chances to kill Vasquez. Those were never an option."

"Wait," Fiona pulled him closer, staring at him as he tried to look away still, "You're telling me all of this could of been avoided?"

"No!.... I mean, yeah." Vaughn's voice grew soft. "I'd, thought about it. He'd been making me sabotage Rhys for years, and it was getting to the point I felt like vomiting blood every time I looked Rhys in the eyes. I was always his friend, but Vasquez was someone I thought I could control, something I could destroy if I waited my time. That's why I was so eager to take the vault key deal. I wanted fix EVERYTHING I did, but what did I get?" The tears finally fell down his face and Fiona fought the urge to wipe them away. "I got nothing. And I'm scared. I'm scared Rhys will find out about everything, and I'm afraid that Assquez is going to do something worse than just bury us alive. And I'm worried I got you two pulled into it."

Vaughn covered his face in his hands and began sobbing. The sound of a Skag howling at Elpis was the only other sound as Fiona stared at the man weeping front of her. Usually you'd comfort someone in this situation, right? Pat 'em on the back, tell 'em it'd all work out? But that wasn't really sound advice.

"Vaughn." Her voice was low, causing the accountant to quiet down a bit, "You remember how we got out of that Atlas Facility?"

"Yeah," he sniffled, "Jack took over."

"Well, I had the choice to not let that happen." Fiona actually realizing that for the first time. "I had that EMP in my hand, ready to disarm the robots, get me and Rhys out of that room, but I didn't. I let Rhys decide."

"How exactly is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"Well, because I was scared my plan wasn't going to work, I caved and let Rhys do whatever he was going to do. I could of fought him, could of just threw that thing right then and there, but I didn't. Just because I wasn't sure of myself. And that is what every con-man's worst enemy is, indecisiveness." She wiped the tears away from Vaughn's right eye, finding out a little too late her hands still had oil covering them. "You can always accept a betrayal that never happened, than one that's done and over. Felix would be alive today if he hadn't lied back at the race. Even if his reasoning was there, it hurt."

"How close were you guys?"

"He was basically our father. A no good, con-man father, but we all have faults that are better off dead when we're gone." Fiona released her hold on Vaughn, who took the bottom of his shirt and blew his nose into it.

"Thanks, Fiona, that actually made me feel a bit better." His smile was weak but genuine.

"Sometimes it's better to hear that someone else has made similar mistakes than the ol' 'there there' routine." Fiona mused, taking out a rag she had and wiping the oil off her fingers. "Oh, you mind if I-" She motioned the rag toward Vaughn's face.

"Oh yeah." He removed his glasses as Fiona took care of the smear of oil she left on his face.

"You know, your eyes are a really nice shade of green." Vaughn chuckled, as Fiona put the rag back in her pocket, "Maybe you should keep the glasses off."

"You do know some of us are near sighted." He replaced his glasses on his face, fixing them so they were just a bit higher on the bridge of his nose. "You have a pretty shade of green too."

Now Fiona got to laugh and brush him off, "You're just saying that now that I did." She grabbed the can of oil that she was going to replace what she had drained earlier, a funnel, and opened the hood of the caravan.

"I mean, I hadn't actually looked at you at all before we were stuck together at the race."

"That's cause you were worried about Rhys laying on the floor when he passed out." She watched the dark liquid pour into the funnel before going in. "Sasha was starting to think you guys were more than just friends back there."

Fiona turned to see Vaughn get flustered, his face turning a deep shade of red, "A guy can't worried about his friend? You'd worry about Sasha getting knocked out by some weird thing right?"

"Eh."

"I mean, she's your sister, so it wouldn't be weird an all but, you get what I'm saying."

"Still weird." Fiona cursed, she'd lost track of how much oil she'd poured and now her jacket was covered in oil. "Great. Like I didn't have enough crap sprayed over me in a day."

She slammed the hood down, and went into the Caravan, ignoring Vaughn as he tried to say something. She moved to the far end of the Caravan, where there was a privacy screen. Sasha yawned a hello before returning to just laying her head over the drivers seats headrest, trying to get comfortable. Fiona ripped her jacket off and threw it onto the privacy screen before she realized-

"My jacket's gone." She gritted her teeth. She'd been working for days on it. The black jacket was her unwinding project that she'd work on under Felix's watch and now it was gone, somewhere out in the desert on that old fashion mannequin. Gone, gone, gone.

"Fiona!" Vaughn shook her, "I can get Loaderbot to get it."

Fiona scoffed, crossing her arms over her blouse, "It's somewhere out in the desert, how do you expect Loaderbot to find it?"

"I have a GPS here," he tapped his glasses, "And it's been recording our movements this entire time."

She smiled before a look of horror took Fiona's face, " _RECORDING_!? You mean that's why Hyperion always seems to be on tail?"

Vaughn went to protect his face as Fiona came closer, "I fixed it after we fled the Gortys Facility so only I could see the location history on it, please don't punch me!"

Fiona backed off a bit, "Get Loaderbot on it, I don't really want to risk getting a sunburn out here."

"Loaderbot?" The Caravan shifted a bit as the robot appeared near the door, "Can you go to 38°13'25.6"N 115°23'44.8"W and see if you can find a jacket within a twenty mile radius." The robot gave a thumbs up before the ground started to shake, "OH AND SEE IF YOU CAN FIND RHYS ON YOUR WAY BACK!" Vaughn yelled over the sound of the robot taking off.

"AM I EVER GOING TO GET ANY SLEEP AROUND HERE?" Sasha screamed into the back of the drivers seats cushion.

"MAYBE YOU SHOULD BE A HEAVIER SLEEPER!" Fiona mockingly yelled back. Sasha screamed into the chair, not articulating anything, still getting her point across. She yawned, "Hopefully a skag hasn't gotten a hold of my jacket, or Rhys." Vaughn narrowed his eyes, "Oh lighten up, I'm sure he'll be fine."

"I'm more worried over the fact Jack's using his cybernetics as marionette strings."

Fiona searched around in a cabinet, pulling out the sleeping bags Felix had put in case there was a time they couldn't get back to their safe house to sleep. "Jack wouldn't let him die if something like that happened. He's just completely attached to Rhys until we change that." She threw one to Vaughn and another to Sasha, who floundered about as it careened into her face. "A full nights sleep and then we can get back on the road. I'm sure if he has to, Rhys can sleep while we're driving."

Fiona had gotten into her sleeping bag and had begun drifting to sleep when the caravan shook, and Rhys entered, mumbling to himself. "Tell Jack to can it Rhys, I'm tired." She covered her face with her hat, the vehicle shifting as Rhys moved to the other side and sat down against a wall.

Another thirty minutes passed before she felt something touch her hand. She took off her hat as she saw Vaughn was holding a dirt covered black jacket. She smiled, taking it and folding up to use as a pillow, "Thanks Vaughn, this coat was supposed to be a reward for me to wear when we got that vault key sold."

Vaughn's face turned a light shade of pink, "Crazy how those things work out, right." He coughed before he got back into his sleeping bag not that far away. "And, thanks again, Fiona."

"We'll work it out dude." She yawned again, "Your the man now, Dog."

"I still can't believe you told me that before."

"Go to sleep."


	2. Vacancy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Episode 4 spoilers.
> 
> Jack's gone, Rhys is trapped, and Helios is on lockdown. Time to grovel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rhys, Escape Plan Bravo, right after choosing not to accept Jack's offer and being plugged in, this was first written before the finale was given a date of release

He was gone.

Rhys' head swam as his eyes went out of focus. His echo eye had almost overheated somehow, the heat making his eye water. He almost had no energy to reach up with his normal hand and pull the uplink wire from his neural importer. He was breathing heavy and feeling cold and just not wanting to exist in general. He rolled up into himself, getting into a fetal position.

All he could feel was the pain and the emptiness. The room and his head, nobody but him. He'd always imagined it'd feeling better without Jack there, but everything just seemed too quiet and empty now.

Rhys laughed, shaking from the cold. Jack'd be laughing at him now, if he were here. What a sight the ex-Hyperion worker must of looked like, crying there at the desk of his former hero and torturer. And now where would that get him? Not far. Maybe a foot. Maybe nowhere. It was only a matter of time before Yvette, Hyperion security, or Jack got there. Then he'd never get out of this CEO's chair, the one he never belonged in. The one he had turned down.

His eyes began to stabilize again, the echo eye's boot up sequence scrolling in front of him. Rhys began to sit up, his hand automatically reaching up to feel at his forehead before he felt something sticky. His fingers came back with blood that lazily tried escaping to the floor. The upload must of been more stressful than he'd thought, then again, Jack was the one who initialized it. Who was to care for a body that they were no longer going to occupy. He wiped it away with his sleeve, and stood.

Again, the office was empty. Rhys could never imagine himself standing alone in here. He'd always seen it as three chairs at that desk, though it'd probably would of been a bit longer to accommodate three people. Him being interviewed, Vaughn on his right, working on expenses, and Yvette on his left, going through the rest of the paperwork, probably a buffet table nearby that was lined with the best lunches. Oh it was almost like yesterday they'd all been shooting the breeze about the position.

But that was the thing. None of that was here. Just a sad little code monkey, scared for his life, betrayed by a friend, and presumed dead by his company he deserted. Everything fallen to pieces by a ghost. A sadistic, angered, electronic ghost, now with full control on the station he knew almost everything about.

And now this room might as well of been a prison. Undoubtedly, Fiona probably had run out of time and couldn't hold the lever. What a lousy trapdoor, more like a death pit, Rhys thought, anger bristly inside him. Why was it that every little thing that got him closer to here made him wish he'd never started, he gritted his teeth. Or that every person he met always demanded something of him but they never returned the favor?

Rhys stood up searching for something, anything to break.

The trophy case. It was just sitting there, showing off, while no one could even get close enough to take from it. But then, no one but Rhys was here.

He walked up to it, staring his own reflection down. At the low hanging eye brows, at the quivering lip, and at the eyes burning. His reflection brought up its left hand and balled it's robotic fist, and it tried returning a punch it could not return.

Glass fell into the case, Rhys watched in horror as his hand unclenched, and went numb. "No, nonono no no NO!" He cried, his neural implants trying to register the arm. "This, this can't be happening." He could still feel his fist clenched, but the hand was unmovable.

A laugh filled the air, which Rhys jumped when he heard it. "You really did a number to yourself there dumdumb."

"Go away Jack." He spat as he felt the weight of the metal dragging his right side down.

"You just destroyed two pieces of company property in one go, good job sport." There was the sound of soft clapping.

"Weren't you busy with something else?" Rhys started reaching into the case, pulling out the beacon Gortys still needed.

"Other than getting my new body ready and keeping an eye on you, there isn't much left for me to do."

Rhys scoffed, "Maybe you should see what you missed out on, maybe actually see how you died." He grabbed the deed to Atlas and stuck it in his vests pocket, not caring if looked obvious. Rhys was beyond letting Handsome Jack have everything.

"Maybe I will, AND DROP THE DEED CUPCAKE IF YOU KNOW WHATS GOOD FOR YOU!" The voice screamed in the intercom. "I'm the only reason Yvette and my soldiers aren't at the door gunning you down right now, don't make me regret it."

"Then why are you doing it? To play more mind games? To get back my favor?!" Rhys took out the sword in the cases and threw it aside.

The voice sighed, "I can't seem to remember much before I died. I need you to help me find the last thing I can remember, so I can figure out where in the database I need to look through."

"How much would I know about you Jack other than the time we spent together? I'm only a 'code monkey'." Rhys took the cow'girl' hat out of the case and put it on, pulling it down over his eyes. He could see why Fiona would like having a hat so much.

"I'm sure I made announcements or something. Just try to remember anything I've said it you heard about me and I'll try to look it up. And stop messing with my stuff!"

"Then let's make a deal."

There was a pause. "You do understand you're at no vantage to ask for that right."

"Other than the fact I have something you want and you have something I want."

"But that literally doesn't mean anything with the fact that I have the ability to open the windows behind you and you can go right out into space."

"You wouldn't just let your deed to Atlas just fly out the window would you?" Rhys patted the spot on his vest it sat in. "Now, you're going to let me, Fiona, Sasha, Loaderbot, and Gortys go." Rhys went back to the desk and rested his arm on it. "You're going to let us get back on the caravan, and then you'll let us go back to Pandora."

"Your plan relies on me going to your word, you know that right pumpkin? Do you really think I'd let you go after I get the information I want?" Handsome Jack's voice laughed and his face appeared on the windows smirking.

Rhys picked up the only thing not welded down to the desk in his reach. "I'd say you'd want to know the fate of Angel would be a pretty good leverage if we-"

The entire station tipped, the artificial gravity shut off to have Rhys fall toward the numerous bookshelves on the other side of the office. "WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT BRINGING UP ANGEL!?" Jack returned the structure back to normal, books rained down on Rhys. A few left light bruises as he shoved them off.

"You want to know what ha-" the floor shook and more books pelted Rhys. "Quit doing that!"

"I'm not doing that kiddo," Jack's face seemed strained on the window before it faded out and Pandora was visible. Numerous ships appeared, firing red beams that would dissapear from sight before the station would shake again. A siren began sounding along with the emergency lights. "Aaagh! Why now! There's no time, there's no way they can be here!"

"They?"

"The Vault Hunters," Jack's voice was beginning to cut in and out as the explosions rocked the station. "You know, your pals Mordecai and Brick, along with the rest of them... And Claptrap for some reason. The point is, we're under attack."

"You mean Hyperion is under attack." Rhys began his way to the door.

"You're killing me cupcake, shoot me with your wit and it'd probably just bounce off me. You're in here too, you'll die if we stay in this room."

Rhys frowned, "We?"

There was a sigh, "Helios isn't in shape to repel the firepower those ships have now that they're close enough, using that goddamn code! The lock down on my office is lifted now that the station is being attacked, you could go pick up your friends, get off while you could. Or."

Footsteps thundered past, possibly the few guards that watched the office had finally ran off to go fight the Vault Hunters, or more likely abandon ship. "Or?" Rhys was beginning to back away from the window, even if a blast broke the glass, there'd be a shutter to cover it.

"I want back in your head sweetie. I could get you off here pretty easily, but you'd probably have some difficulty if you left without me." Panic was beginning to set into Jack's voice.

Rhys couldn't help but smirk, "Who was that saying I had no vantage?"

"Rhys? Is tha-" He spun and looked at Yvette who'd opened the door, her mouth hung as she stared at Jack.

"Oh look, it's someone I don't have time for! Come on kid, get me outta here!"

"Is... Is that Handsome Jack? Is that what they wanted you for?" Yvette began walking into the room, looking at awe at the window Jack was on.

"To be honest, I'm surprised you're more surprised to see him than to see me here alive." Rhys watched her pass to stand staring at the projection. "No? Not even a hi?"

She stood there, the red from the emergency lights flashed over her, "You just happened to have our dead CEO in your head? Rhys, you understand what this means right?"

"It means I spent almost over a week with murdering mad man in my head, then yeah. We should get out of here while we can Yvette, I have some people that can ge-"

Yvette frowned, "You mean those two we brought into custody with that one robot?"

"Yeah, we need to get them out, and we need to get out of here." Rhys reached for her hand, "Trust me."

"Lady, whoever you are," Jack was holding his hands together on screen. "You have to get Rhys to put me back in that head of his, HELL, on a holodisk! I can't die like this, just, just like other me. I was supposed to make this company good again, come on!"

She stood there, looking back and forth between her past boss and her friend she had betrayed not that many hours ago. "There's no time Jack," Rhys shouted grabbing her hand, "Yyvette, you have to decide, do you want to die for that man who would of easily shout you out into space, or are you going with me and possibly die in the crossfire between Helios and all those ships?"

Another five seconds of sirens passed. "Okay Rhys, I trust you." The two took off running, the sounds of Jack screaming followed them.


End file.
